Never Again
by Ondori-Naramaki
Summary: Venom accidentally injures Eddie while yanking him out of the path of danger, and now the Symbiote feels weird. Is this what guilt feels like? Featuring protective Venom and hurt Eddie, as always.


"Well, that doesn't look good." Is all Eddie can think to say when the stolen high tech doohickey thing they managed to recover from the douchenozzle who'd stolen it in the first place—and whom they'd just _eaten_ —started to glow and emit a high-pitched whine.

Then everything both seemed to slow down and speed up all at once. A mighty explosion mere feet from Eddie lit up the nighttime darkness just as tentacles protruded from his side and proceeded to yank him backwards and around a corner, and then he heard a strange noise and all he saw was black.

~•~*~•~

Eddie comes to in his house, lying in bed, his head feeling fuzzy and a little bit like he received a love-tap to the temple via a baseball bat. He then feels a sudden relief, but not coming from himself per se. "Venom?"

 **Yes?**

"What happened?"

 **... How much do you remember?**

"Uh," Eddie closes his eyes in concentration, bringing up a hand to rub at the sore spot on the side of his head. "I remember that weird lady we had to chase around to grab that weird thingy from her before she could do... something with it." He rifled through his memories, trying to remember what came next. "Right, then we, well we _ate_ her-"

 **So she wouldn't kill anyone else** , Venom interrupted/reminded.

"Yeah, so she wouldn't kill anyone else." Eddie agreed, then dropped his hand to the bed and gave a relaxed sigh.

 **... and then what?** Venom prompted when it seemed the human wouldn't continue on his own.

Eddie's eyes shot open and he inhaled suddenly, having nearly dozed off. "Huh?"

 **What happened next?**

"What? Oh right, uh," he closed his eyes in concentration again. "Then I think it started to glow... and then I woke up here. That's all I remember. Why? What happened?"

He could feel the symbiote's reluctance to answer the question, but Venom eventually caved without further prompting. **The weird thing was going to explode and I had to get us out of there.**

"...Yeah," Eddie prompted when that was all Venom said.

 **So I did. But the thing is, there was a stupid lamppost around the corner and I kind of slammed you into it at high velocity and knocked you unconscious.** Venom rattled off quickly.

"Oh." Well, that explained pretty much everything.

 **Sorry.**

"You seriously apologizing for saving my life?" _Their_ life?

" **No; for hurting you.** " The last thing Venom wanted to be was another person who caused pain in Eddie's life.

"It was an accident." Eddie pointed out, knowing Venom hadn't done it on purpose.

" **Should've been more careful, watched surroundings better**."

"Hey, everybody makes mistakes. And then they learn from them." Eddie shrugged (like it was no big deal), then briefly wondered why none of the rest of his body hurt; just his head.

 **Normally I can heal pretty much any injury just fine, but the head is a complicated thing, so I could only do so much since I don't want to chance turning your brain to mush. Need to study it more first.**

Hmm, that made sense. But it unfortunately also meant he'd have to deal with a raging headache for who knew how long.

He could feel a tendril of guilt arise from Venom in response to his thought. **Anything I can do?** The symbiote offered in an attempt to ameliorate his conscience.

"Well, there is one thing," Eddie said after a moment of contemplation.

A minute later had Venom massaging Eddie's head in all areas aside from the impact site, Eddie lightly groaning along with the ministrations until he fell asleep, completely relaxed.

Venom only stopped when he was sure Eddie wouldn't wake up again, and studied his peacefully slumbering visage, gently stroking a jet black hand down his cheek.

 _"Everybody makes mistakes. And then they learn from them."_

Hmm, yes, Venom decided that's what he would do. Learn from his mistake and make sure to never hurt Eddie ever again, and even more importantly, make sure that he destroyed anyone who dare threaten his human.

Yes, that sounded good.


End file.
